FIBRE ALIVE

Feels Like Home - Bonnie Raitt

A really close friend of ours, Renata, has just bought her first home! It was a strange set of circumstances which made it all happen but nonetheless she is now the very proud owner of a cute one bedroomed beach cottage in the town of Waikanae.

Renata used to flat with Ian and I in the first house that we bought together so we go back quite some time now. She always loved how I decorated our homes so she asked if Ian and I would help her to decorate her home. How could we say no! Last weekend Renata was down in Christchurch visiting her Father so we took the opportunity to head over to Waikanae and make a few changes to her bedroom.

Here's what it looked like before I got started... the bars are actually a bed base which I couldn't be bothered taking apart.

And here is a progress shot part way through...

As it wasn't my house I held back in unleashing a lot of colour so I went with a nice warm cream colour called biscotti... funny how I'm always thinking of food! Just add in new floor to ceiling curtains, a new duvet set, cushions and a bedside table and here you have it...

The result was worth the hectic day I spent creating it... I don't know how TV shows like 60 minute makeover do it... this room was almost seven hours of painting! But I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. We'll head back in a few months time and help Renata to decorate her living room.

Living across the road from a beach means that her section is more sand than soil but look at her lawn... it's all these yellow flowers... which is far more spectacular than boring old grass!

Speaking of spectacular... the previous owners built this very cool fence from driftwood found on the beach...

But of course the most spectacular thing of all is the fact that the beach is only about 30 seconds walk away... yes it's just across the road and the view is this beautiful...

With a little luck and a whole lot of hard work Renata has got herself her own little slice of paradise. I'm sure that she is going to be very happy in her home for many years to come.

What's New Pussycat - Tom Jones

Jazz is always on the search for somewhere new to sleep...

And he thought his luck was in when he saw that I had left my persian poppies vest lying on the chair by our bed. His luck ran out, however, when he started kneading and clawing the vest. I evicted him and he responded with one of his withering looks of contempt before he headed off downstairs in search of somewhere else to lay his furry head.

Knitting projects seem to have been few and far between for me over the past couple of years… but not because I haven’t been knitting!

My ‘Sweet As’ sock yarn blanket continues to get bigger and at this point in time has 158 rectangles in it. That means I’ve dyed 158 different colourways in the Fibre Alive Merino Mania yarn to date. Wow! I guess that’s why I haven’t been knitting too many other projects. What I try to do with each new colourway is add another rectangle to the blanket and knit up a baby sock as a sample so that people can see what it looks like knitted up. It’s time consuming but the positive feedback I get from people at craft markets lets me know that it’s worth the effort.

 

 Speaking of time consuming… the sock yarn blanket starter kits each take about 90 minutes to put together. Knitting the sample is about half an hour and the rest of the time is taken up by handwinding the balls and printing off the pattern. It’s a great way of using up my odds and ends of yarn, and they are always a good seller, but it does take away from my knitting time.  

 

Here are all the baby socks I’ve knitted up recently in the colourways which are still available. They are very cute and a lot of women get very clucky when they see them. As I’m more of a rooster than a chook I’m not too prone to getting clucky.

 

But I must admit that I did take some time out to knit a pair of baby socks for my cousin Neville and his wife Serena to celebrate the birth of their first child… a beautiful bouncy boy they have named Alex. I can’t wait to visit them all but as I’m getting over a cold at the moment I’m not going anywhere near them just yet. I did however dye up a large hank of yarn and knit the baby socks out of it as a starter gift and I’m planning on using up the rest of the yarn in a number of other projects for Alex… knowing my schedule they will be to fit a 9 month old or 12 month old!

 

I do however have plenty of knitting projects flying around in my head that I do want to get started on… namely a lace jersey/sweater for my Mother. This is a photograph of the base yarn I’m going to dye for it. It’s an alpaca, merino nylon mix for that little hint of luxury. The plan was to get it knitted up before we head off to Europe in April but with less than 8 weeks to go now it’s not looking hopeful… but then again there’s nothing saying that I can’t make a start on it and finish it while we’re on our trip. Given the temperatures in the UK and Amsterdam this week I think Mum is going to need as many layers as she can…

Especially after seeing this video my friend Jan posted on facebook for me this morning.

 

The canals have frozen over for the first time in 15 years and everyone is skating on them. It looks beautiful but I think I'd rather be taking a boat cruise on an un-frozen canal at dusk.

Today is St Valentine's Day and look at what my funky little Valentine (Ian of course) got for us to share tonight. I didn't ask if he used his lips to decorate it! 

 I provided the liquid refreshments (bubbles of course) to go with it!

Happy St Valentine's Day everyone...

Round and Round - Spandau Ballet

Long time no hear... and no see... yes I'm alive and well but overly busy as usual.

In the lead up the Christmas I attended a few craft markets with my yarn. It can be a lot of fun but it involves a lot of work getting ready for each market and a fair amount of time. As we all know Christmas is hectic in itself anyway so when I added the craft market circuit into the mix I got a bit exhausted. I didn't even have the energy to decorate a christmas tree last year... the first year ever that I haven't had a tree. So with a new year well underway what am I up to...

going to craft markets again! 

This past Saturday saw the Martinborough Fair take place. It's supposed to be the largest craftmarket in the Southern Hemisphere with over 480 stalls. I booked a site and shared it with two friends of mine who also had yarns for sale. Nanette of YARNZ and Sally of Verandah Yarns. Despite some un-summery weather we all had a great day and I sold more this year that last year so I went home a very happy camper.This is a shot of my yarns ready to be fondled by all the yarn lovers at the Fair, ready and willing to take their place in someone's yarn stash.

So when you sell yarn... you have to replace it... and here are the fruits of my dyeing effort today.

So after a few evenings of hard graft I'll have another thirty two skeins of yarn ready to tempt unsuspecting knitters.

When you're a yarn lover you tend to appreciate the efforts of the humble sheep... and then you get tempted into buying sheep related items... well at least I do!

I couldn't resist buying this sheep themed set of a sugar bowl, milk jug and mug... and the fact that they were on sale at less than half price made it easier for me to justify the purchase... as if I ever need to justify my purchases! The cook book was a tasty treat of a Christmas gift from my friend Sarah who lives in London. I'm itching to make the grashopper pie featured in the book... don't worry... no actual grasshoppers will be harmed in the making. I'm also getting excited that I'll get to catch up with Sarah... in London... in April! That's right, I'm heading off to Europe for a holiday in April along with Mum and Ian. It's going to be a blast and if I make it to Liberty of London again I probably will have to try and justify any purchases I'll make... last time I bought handkerchiefs which cost ten pounds each... but it was Willian Morris fabric... and I know I'll never be out of debt... but that keeps me going to work!

Summer has been a write off this year... and the strange weather has affected the garden here at Scarlet Oak Cottage.

The plums are only just starting to ripen on our old tree and as you can see the insects have been attacking the leaves because the fruit has taken so long to ripen this year.

The lace capped hydrangeas have put on a great show...

The Japanese anenomes have grown even taller this year and are finally starting to bloom. I think all their energy has gone into their stems instead of the flowers... but then again there are plenty of buds out there about to open.

My favourite showstopper in the garden has always been the fuschias and I'm smiling now that they are working their magic in the garden once again.

and this morning Ian and our friens Marnie gave the front hedge a much needed haircut... speaking of which it's high time I gave Ian and myself another haircut. 

Don't worry... it won't be more than two months before I post again.

Vote Baby Vote - Deee Lite

It's only a couple of days to go until the General Election in New Zealand... and I can't wait! Firstly because I love the fact that we live in a democratic country and I am able to vote. Secondly I'll just be glad when it's all over. It's been a shorter than normal campaign period due to the timing of the Rugby World Cup but in reality it's seemed like one of the longest... ever... and I blame the media and their reporting of the campaign. I have been really embarrassed at the poor standard of journalism which has seen real issues pushed to the background while the tea cup saga has gained all the attention. When you talk about self importance politicians usually tend to come to mind but these days I think the title clearly goes to TV journalists.

Right that's my grump over! For anyone who still has not enrolled to vote, tomorrow is the last day to register. So get in there and make your vote count. For those of you who are still uncertain about the policies of the various parties and how they might affect you I have a solution...

ELECTION FARM

Can you tell that New Zealand is still very much an agricultural nation?!? Some whizz kids have come up with this interactive site which gives you an overview of the political parties and their policies using a farm environment. I've already decided who I am voting for in my electorate and which party will get my party vote but I did have fun playing around on Election Farm. Check it out for yourselves.

In another sign of tough economic times I was saddened to read this week that the woollen mill in Milton (just outside Dunedin) is about to close and make all their staff redundant. The Mill has seen many incarnations of ownership over the years but has always played an important part in the history of the New Zealand fibre industry. Here is the news article I saw earlier this week...

WOOLEN MILL IN MILTON TO CLOSE...

I'm hoping that somehow there may be a solution worked out and perhaps new owners might be able to keep the mill going.

In terms of knitting this week... I finished the Santa Sack jock strap! I'm quite pleased with just how good it turned out. Bi-tone honeycomb certainly is my signature stitch! this little beauty will find it's way into the mail to Canada this weekend. On a side note... Ian likes it so much that he has even requested one for Christmas. Hmmm...

Ready for some flowers now???

It's springtime so we've had some peonies on display in the dining room and I thought they were too beautiful not to share them with you. (Yes that is my laundry in the background, I'm no domestic goddess!)

A Kind of Christmas Card - Morten Harket

Last weekend was a busy one for me travelling through to Fielding each day for a craft fair being held there. I decided that it would be cheaper to drive each day than to pay for a motel and because my friend Sally and I were sharing a stall it made sense to share a car as well. I had never been to this particular fair before but it was one that my Father regularly went to with his woodturning. 

The saturday was very busy peoplewise with waves of people pouring into the venue. I made the mistake of spending most of the day up on my feet talking and knitting while I was selling my yarns. Normally that isn't a problem for me and when I worked in retail management for Pascoes there were no seats to sit down so I was always on my feet. But when I was driving home on Saturday I started to get a little cramping in my right leg and I had to take my shoe off. When I got home I saw why... the leg I've had celulitis in had become swollen and tender. Luckily not a relapse, just a bit of swelling so on the Sunday I made sure that I sat down for most of the day... which was interesting in itself since I was wearing my kilt.

So in the end it was a successful weekend as Sally and I had a great time, we both sold stuff and we got to meet lots of new people and also got to meet people we had only known from online. I'll be back to the Fielding market next year for sure.

I was at the Post Office a couple of days ago and saw the poster with Christmas posting deadlines and decided that it was time to start getting my Christmas cards sorted. I happened to be at Paper Plus so I browsed through there huge display of Christmas cards looking for something that would appeal to my knitting friends who live overseas. Normally it's quite difficult to find anything combining Christmas and Knitting but this year I spotted this card...

Not only does the card feature knitting... but sock knitting!!! It was perfect and I couldn't resist buying a pack... a portion of the sale price also went to a Breast Cancer charity so it was a done deal.

Then just as I was about to leave the store I spotted another card with a sort of Christmas knitting theme...

An ultra cute Christmas Kitty!!! I might have to see if I can replicate this image using Jazz the cat... I'm guessing that I'll have to ply him with food to model for me.

And speaking of Christmas knitting... here is another project I'm working on. Red and white... Christmasey. Reindeer looking on... Christmasey. It's another knitted jock for a friend and I know I'm going to regret this but it's going to be called the 'Santa Sack' jock because it will have a double pouch which will have gifts in it.  

And as Christmas is partly about fun and games follow this link to a really cute game about testing your reaction time by tranquilising sheep. It sounds weird but it's fun and quite addictive when you keep trying to improve your time.

THE SHEEP DASH

Doozer Knitting - The Muppets

When I was a TV addicted kid in the 1970's the two highlights of my weekend viewing were The Wonderful World of Disney and The Muppet Show. Even Mum and Dad would watch the Muppet Show with me and laugh along with all the skits although I think they got a bit fed up with my Brother and I constantly singing 'ma na ma na' at the tops of our lungs. I don't even remember there ever being a Muppets knitting song but I was pleasantly surprised to find the Doozer Knitting song when I was doing a random google search a few days ago... it may even become the ring tone on my phone soon. 

About ten years ago I bought Mum a Tickle Me Elmo doll for her birthday, the sort that when you did tickle Elmo it would gigle and vibrate. Even now it brings a smile to my face when I look at it... it's not just kids who like to have or enjoy toys.

While this video clip doesn't feature Elmo or the Muppets it does feature two very cute knitted characters called Knit and Purl... did I say very cute???... I meant to say incredibly cute!!!

  

Although what would you call the baby... Make one??? The credits appearing on a ball of yarn at the end of the clips are a very clever idea. My thanks to wonkyfilms for being so creative.

My little by little premise is working ok so far and the latest mini stockings offerings are in red and green... and the next colours will be green and white. Can you tell that I'm quite traditional when it comes to my Christmas colours?!?

I'm running late for work this morning so instead of babbling on about Christmas knitting I'll leave you with another clip from Knit and Purl... I couldn't resist because it's about tickling!

 

Little by Little - Radiohead

I guess that as you get older you learn more about yourself and the world around you... well at least you're meant to learn from your experiences... I'm learning that my 41 year old body isn't able to do the things my 21 year old body could.

Back then I enjoyed rowing and thought nothing of going to the gym and rowing for over an hour at a time. It was something that I was good at and something that I felt a sense of achievement with... and you can't deny the effect of the endorphins running around your body afterwards. Since I stopped working in Wellington with a gym only a couple of minutes walk away I haven't been doing much rowing and I think that has also contributed to my moods and rubenesque physique. So earlier this week I decided to launch myself back into the rowing saddle... and it's amazing how much out of shape I felt... and realised that I need to respect my body and ease myself back into a steady routine. There's no need to try and row for an hour anymore and it's probably far more beneficial for me to just spend 20 minutes a day to build up my strength and stamina and forget about getting back to the level I was at last year.

It's amazing just how the kilometres add up when you start rowing. Concept2 is one of the world's most well known rowing machine brands and as part of motivating people they provide an online log book where you can record your distances and times and then compare that to other people. I started using the log book about four years ago and while I've been a little inconsistent with rowing due to various things I'm really pleased to announce that yesterday's workout saw me cross the five million meters rowed threshold! It'a quite an achievement and one that I'm rather proud of plus it's come right at the time when I needed a bit of a boost. My goal now is of course to head towards six million meters but... I'm not putting a time frame on it this time. I know that if I make the commitment to row often and for short distances the meters will add up by themselves, little by little, and I'll enjoy the exercise instead of forcing myself to do it.

I also decided it was time to treat myself with a bit of fibre indulgence. A couple of months ago I had ordered myself some undyed alpaca boucle yarn from a place called Flagstaff Alpacas  with the intention of knitting something for myself. I finally got around to dragging out my dyepots again and finally got the yarn dyed.

And here is the work in progress. The four different colourways will all be knit up in a modular pattern I've got worked out in my head... danger... and the plan is to knit one module per day. That way it will become part of a daily routine and I'll also learn a little patience and balance when it comes to my knitting. I thought it was kind of cool that when I wound the yarn from the hank into these cakes that the colours took on a tartan-esque argyle look.

I'm needing to learn the balance thing again because I tend to get distracted and start multiple projects but then discard them in favour of other things. Doing a little bit on each project every day will see good progress on all of them and again help me feel a sense of achievement when I see that progress. Another example are these mini-christmas stockings I've started to knit for the craft fairs I'm going to. I could spend a whole fortnight knitting these and nothing else but then I wouldn't have any time for making up sock yarn blanket kits, skeining yarn, knitting cable strips for a friendship quilt, knitting another jock strap for a ravelry swap, knitting for me, etc etc etc. Knitting always needs to be for fun and pleasure.

Here's something to make you think twice about animal husbandry... click on this like to see an article which appeared in the New zealand Herald...

Is it a sheep... is it a goat... no it's a geep!  

After some testing it turned out that it was a normal lamb but with an unusual gene combination which gave it a more lustrous type of fleece... hmmm I wonder what that would spin and knit up like???

To finish with here's a photo of our wisteria at the front of Scarlet Oak Cottage. I was very relieved to see that it had survived the windy stormy weather we had on Friday... we lost half the green fruit off the old plum tree though so I might be having a few discussions with Ian over how many plums I get to eat vs how many he gets to turn into jam... life is all about negotiation!  

On The Road Again - Willie Nelson

Thanks to everyone for your kind wishes for Jazz our cat and for me in my silly blue state...

The update I promised you is all good news. Jazz is home again and while he's not quite back to feeling 100% of his usual self he is well enough to get up to mischief again... yesterday we came home to find a dead bird on the back door step... as Jazz's contribution to the pantry no doubt. Then tonight he got fed up with me being on the computer and not paying him enough attention so he tipped over the wastepaper basket next to me in the study and proceeded to take all the paper out to make himself a bed. Can you tell who rules the roost in this house?!?

Thanks also for the comments on my new glasses. I'm not one for really promoting anything other than my own products or the products of friends here on my blog but I think I'll make an exception here. The company are based in Hong Kong and are called Zenni Optical, you can check out their website here. It's a really user friendly site and all the pricing on the website is in US$. My experience with them has been very good and I love the glasses I've purchased... one of the pairs I got just to wear at christmas time because they have snowmen on them.

And before I forget, the All Blacks did win the 2011 Rugby World Cup so needless to say there has been plenty of celebrating throughout the country. You might remember the supportive hay bales I posted a pictured a couple of weeks ago... well there's been a victorious addition to the front...

A replica trophy... classic kiwi country ingenuity.

I called this post 'On The road Again' because the Summer circuit of craft fairs is about to start and I've booked a place at a few of them... so here's the run down.

Fielding Craft Market, Saturday November 12th & Sunday November 13th, 10.00am - 4.00pm, Fielding Civic Centre, 84 Aorangi Street, Fielding

Craft Jam in the Plaza, Saturday December 3rd, 5.00pm - 9.00pm, Sunday December 4th, 10.00am - 2.00pm, Hawkes Bay Opera House, 101 Hastings Street South, Hastings

More details on the Fruit Bowl Craft Jam website

Craft Country Craft Market, Saturday December 10th, 10.00am - 3.00pm, Greytown Town Hall, Main Street, Greytown. The same day as the Greytown Christmas parade.

More details on the Craft Country website

Rotary Martinborough Fair, Saturday February 4th, 8.00am - 4.00pm, The Town Square, Martinborough

Rotary Martinborough Fair, Saturday, March 3rd, 8.00am - 4.00pm, The Town Square, Martinborough

More details on the Rotary Martinborough Fair website

Unwind Fibrecraft Retreat Traders Market, Friday March 9th, 1.30pm - 5.00pm, Pacific Park Hotel, Wallace Street, Dunedin. I'm also teaching two workshops over the weekend.

More details at unwindretreat.co.nz

It looks like I'm going to be a very busy boy but it's all going to be fun... especially as i usually wear my kilt to these events.

And what's a blog post on a knitting website without a photo of knitting...

This is a reversible mini jock strap I knitted for the teddy bear which I included as an extra gift to go with the Feliz navidad jock strap I knitted for a friend on Ravelry. Very cute!

 

 

I Get Weak - Belinda Carlisle

It's been a funny old week for me... some good things and some not so good things.

For the most part I'm able to take the good with the bad but sometimes I end up tipping the balance and for the past couple of weeks I seem to have been a little bit down in the dumps and tend to be dwelling on the negatives more than the positives in my life. I guess it came down to committing myself to a few too many things again and I got tired and run down... and unfortunately for me I tend to lose a bit of perspective when I get like that.

Then this past week I made the mistake of weighing myself and discovered that I was only a couple of pounds away from my all time highest weight... again. Just call me a human yo-yo but my weight does seem to go up and down with my moods. So what did I do??? I chastised myself and then soothed myself with... a block of chocolate... and then chastised myself again... but resisted soothing myself with yet more chocolate.

Then Jazz the cat appeared to be off his food... not just being fussy like he can be... he wouldn't even eat any raw mince or his all time favourite treat... ham. I took him to the vet yesterday and now I feel like a dreadful pet parent because Jazz has had to be sent to the pet hospital in Masterton. The poor little man was dehydrated, underweight, had sunken eyes, a rotten tooth and has possible kidney disease. I was also taken aback when the vet described Jazz as a geriatric cat. He's ten years old now but I tend to still see him as an over grown kitten who loves to play with wool and claw all my knitting projects.

I was so upset after I had to leave him there at the vet clinic that I walked to the supermarket and bought a LARGE block of chocolate and ate it all... and didn't even bother to chastise myself. Fingers crossed that if his treatment goes well we should be able to bring Jazz home sometime during the week.

To say that I'm not feeling overly good about myself at the moment is a bit of an understatement.

So what do I do when I get depressed??? I usually indulge in a completely unneccesary spot of retail therapy... and this time I bought myself five pairs of face furniture... otherwise known as prescription eye glasses. A friend (Hi Sharee!) put me onto an online provider of glasses and I had been putting off looking at the website for no other reason than I didn't think I needed any new glasses... or rather that I couldn't afford any new glasses. But when I did look I was completely amazed at the pricing and I purchased all these glasses complete with prescription lenses for less than the cost of my last pair I had bought locally... and that pair had been half the price of my previous Ted Baker or Gucci frames only.

So here's a photo of me wearing the most 'architectural' framed glasses I've ever contemplated wearing... I like them so much I even managed a half smile in the photo. I also seem to at last be starting to fall in love with the colour orange. I have two friends (Hi Kent and Dee!) who are huge devotees of the colour and proactively try to convert people to the colour so I guess it might also be a case of osmosis.

I'm also wearing the scarf I finished in Hamilton while I was visiting my Mother. At this stage it's going to end up being a gift as part of a facebook promise I made at the start of the year.

And I bought a couple of new tea towels, both Irish linen and at a ridiculous price... but then I feel my life is quite ridiculous some days. I bought this particular one because it made me smile and it reminded me of my trip to Northern Ireland three years ago.

Don't worry about me though... I'm not on a total downer. Last night I went to a dinner held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the company I work for. Ian was away for the weekend and I wasn't really all that keen on attending but I'm so glad that I did. I ended up having a really good time... perhaps that was due to the wine that seemed to keep disappearing from my glass... and the delicious meal which was provided... or perhaps that's just another sign of my moderation issues! But I'm very pleased I went and I came home in a much better frame of mind as a result.

And of course knitting generally keeps my mood up and here is this weeks knitting output... three baby socks, cabled strips for a knitted quilt project and another scarf half finished.

It's such a beautiful day outside today that it's now time for me to shut down the laptop and sit in the sun and knit away the afternoon... the vitamin D boost I'll get is bound to keep me in a better mood for the start of the working week.

I'll give you an update on Jazz in a few days time.

Front Page News - Little Feat

A few weeks ago I mentioned that another designer had selected my Merino Mania yarn to use in a pattern... well... it was actually selected for three patterns... plus another colourway was featured on the cover!!!

Can you tell that I'm excited!!!!

Here is a sneaky peak at the other designs featuring my hand dyed yarn...

...In the harmony colourway...

...In the Festival colourway...

...In the Nightfalls colourway...

Great designs... in a great book... featuring great New Zealand yarns... life is good!

The designer is Belinda Too and one of her main objectives is to showcase quality New Zealand yarns alongside her own designs. This is her second published book and it follows on from the success of her first book which featured sock designs. The book is released this week and I'm sure that it will be a success. (I'll have copies for sale in the store next week). You can find out more about Belinda and her designs on her website Blendy Knits

Belinda is about to kick off a book launch tour so if you'd like to be one of the first people to see the book... and some of the featured yarns... check out these dates   

October 28th - Wellington - Paramount Theatre - 4.30pm - 8.30pm

October 29th - Wellington - Craft 2.0 - Chafers Dock - 10.00am - 4.00pm

October 30th - Auckland - Kraftbomb - Grey Lynn Community Centre - 11.00am - 2.00pm

And now for a very cute commercial which aired on New Zealand television a few months ago and always brought a smile to my face every time I saw it. It also came in second place in the annual Fair Go Ad Awards which screened on TV tonight.